An entire article on the loss of non-resident hunting permits declining without mentioning anywhere the recent push of the Colorado Denver state legislature making it so dangerous to bring any guns into the state that hunters nation-wide are boycotting us.

Money quote: “…lose that non-resident hunter–from old age, economic downturns, or whatever–and you lose a substantial bit of jingle.”

OR WHATEVER? Good lord.

I have no sympathy for the Department of Parks and Wildlife losing their entire budget because of this, if they aren’t going to go out of their way kicking and screaming about the idiocy out of Denver. If you are silent on this issue OR WHATEVER, you are no friend of me, resident sportsmen, or the out of state hunters you claim to love the money of.

The horror of the Newtown shooting, arriving on the heels of the mass shootings in Aurora, Columbine, Virginia Tech and Tucson, has appropriately reignited a national debate over gun violence. Sadly, this week even a bipartisan compromise to expand background checks to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, drafted by two conservative U.S. senators — Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia — failed to pass the U.S. Senate, despite being supported by 90 percent of Americans and over 70 percent of NRA members. [citation needed]

Last week I met with the mothers and fathers of the children who were murdered in Newtown [IS FOR THE CHILDRENS!!!]; although they told me about how thankful they were to the families and community of Aurora for their support, I know they are uniquely disappointed in the Senate’s failure to pass meaningful gun-safety measures. This gulf between public support and congressional inaction cannot continue.

As with many issues, Colorado serves as a roadmap for the steps we must take: Our state closed the gun show loophole through a ballot initiative in 2000 and in March this year, Gov. John Hickenlooper [The future one term governor of Denver Colorado {they’re different? who knew!}] signed into law several bills that require universal background checks for all gun purchases and limit high-capacity magazines. These actions mirror my votes in the U.S. Senate this week in favor of background checks, supporting a ban on high-capacity magazines, cracking down on illegal gun sales and trafficking, and improving mental health services. [And now the Denver Democrats are out there leading the charge off the cliff all alone]

The U.S. Senate also considered an assault weapons ban. And while I’ve previously called for an effectively crafted ban on military-style weapons, the specific ban we considered went much further than the 1994 assault weapons law and also would have banned legitimate hunting rifles and even some shotguns. I spoke to sportsmen from across Colorado and they voiced their concerns about how this ban would restrict their ability to hunt and responsibly practice their sport, which is an important part of our economy and way of life. I know some Coloradans may say that banning some legitimate hunting weapons is a small price to pay to keep other, more dangerous weapons off of our streets — especially for a state that has suffered mass gun tragedies. I can relate to that sentiment, but after years of seeking to find common ground on gun-safety issues, I also know that overreach can spur the backlash that we’ve seen undermine even the most common-sense solutions – like universal background checks. [sign of intelligent life?]

But an assault weapons ban alone should not serve as a litmus test for people who want to reduce gun violence. Even if a perfectly drafted assault weapons ban were signed into law, we would still be left with easy access to millions of military-style weapons on our streets today – which is why it is so important to also ensure that a background check is conducted on every gun sale. [Good luck getting gang bangers to go along with that]

There are no easy answers, but we should all agree — and a large majority of NRA members do [citation needed] — that we must keep firearms of any kind out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill by requiring universal background checks. But loopholes — which the Manchin-Toomey proposal sought to correct — continue to prevent many of these background checks from occurring today. Disturbed individuals should not get a chance to fire even one round into their communities, let alone the 30 rounds a high-capacity magazine would allow. Together, background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines achieve much of what an assault weapons ban seeks to — preventing the wrong people from having access to weapons [like pressure cookers] that can inflict mass casualties in a matter of moments.

Coming from a state with a long and storied tradition of gun ownership that has also suffered through too many gun tragedies, I know we must simultaneously renew our commitment to keeping our children safe while safeguarding our Second Amendment rights. My friend Gabby Giffords [yeah, I know a guy who knows a guy with brown skin], a survivor of the senseless violence in Tucson, knows too well how important this debate is and her strength has only affirmed my conviction that the status quo must change. I will keep fighting for Colorado’s [I think you meant to say “Denver” there] families and values. Our nation deserves nothing less.

Thank you for writing regarding gun control in Colorado. This is an important subject, and we appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts and concerns.

Throughout the past seven months in Colorado and across the nation, we have experienced an unprecedented level of tragedy due to gun violence. (Unprecedented? Really? Not like, say, any time in WWII?) The shooting that occurred in Aurora on the night of July 20th is an event that will remain in our hearts and minds forever. (Because we all like to dwell on horrible things.) And while our lives will never be the same again, these experiences showed the strength and resilience of individuals to come together as a community. Now, as a community, we must come together to discuss ways we can prevent similar tragedies in the future. (Sure, if by “discuss” you mean “RAM THROUGH WITHOUT THINKING,” I find nothing wrong with that statement.)

Your letter is one of thousands we have received expressing sympathy and sharing your opinions on everything from banning assault weapons, to increasing mental health availability, to the rights of citizens to carry concealed weapons. The diversity of opinions on how best to address this issue is proof positive that we should not shy away from this discussion. (See previous statement about “RAMMING THROUGH WITHOUT THINKING) We are confident that through thoughtful and mindful debate we can find reasonable solutions that respect the rights of law-abiding Coloradans to own firearms while maintaining the health and safety of our communities. (You know, I don’t remember hearing any discussion of respecting the rights of law-abiding citizens. AT ALL.)

This is a multifaceted issue and part of this dialogue should focus on mental health access. So, we have asked the Colorado General Assembly to support a comprehensive overhaul of our state’s mental health system so we can better identify and help people who are a threat to themselves and others. (OOOOOooooOOOO, nice card trick! You almost got me that time! Too bad none of 4 big bills being forced down my throat right now have anything to do with mental health, or else you might have made me believe you!)

Once again, thank you for your input, and for taking the time to contact our office. We will keep your thoughts in mind as we move forward. (Yeah, right)

Sincerely,

Office of Governor John W. Hickenlooper

There you have it. We are having a discussion about mental health that involves demonizing every single law-abiding gun owner, driving out roughly 1000 jobs and a $40 million company, increasing the amount of “instant” background checks done by an agency that’s already about two weeks behind, and in general making everyone’s life harder and more dangerous. Go Democrats!

I was about to write something really ranty, but if you go to Kevin’s and watch Bill Whittle latest, you’ll get the same message but without being personally insulted over and over by something that eventually devolves into a string of repetitive, unimaginative, CAPS LOCKED, colorful metaphors.

(If you still want some of that, just start saying something in the comments all-inclusively about “All those states that voted for Obama are full of traitors” or “All those kids these days are all gibbering idiots.” More likely than not you’ll get a reply along the lines of “All you old people don’t know anything about consequences of their actions and they’re all going to conveniently die just in time for it all to be MY problem.” There, did you like that? Oh, OF COURSE I didn’t mean YOU you. I meant that OTHER you. Riiiight. Just keep telling yourself that. It’s pretty much the only way I can stay sane while trolling these conservative weblog waters.)

What do muslim extremists do to raise money for the volunteer fire department? OH WAIT. The only way they know how to put the words “volunteer” and “fire” in the same sentence would involve me saying in a spanish accent “You keep using those words, I do not think they mean what you think they mean,” rather than people getting together on their own free time to run into flaming buildings to save lives.

I just can’t. After yet another newspaper filled with senseless gun-control articles (Gail Collins, I’m looking at you), I can’t read any of it. So what if Batshit bought stuff off the internet? Why should that mean that I can’t? So what if the NRA isn’t paying hospital bills of the victims? I don’t see the Brady Bunch stepping up either.

THIS IS ALL JUST POINTLESS POSTURING.

You fucking morons had your 15 minutes of fame, and are now trying to use stuff like this for more than your fair share. I’m sick and tired of it. Shit happens, whether or not an insane movie villain wannabe can buy “thousands of rounds” off the internet, and screaming and yelling about guns is treating the symptom, not the cause.

I’m going to go to the sports section and ignore you now. I hope you go hoarse.

I have noticed a bit of discussion about this across the blogoshpere (and the podcastoshpere?) lately, but a couple of spam comments in this morning’s trap got me thinking about it, and now I’m thinking about it “out loud” for you. The spam comments were in the order of “If you are serious about making money with your blog then you should use our website blahblahblah,” and “I have noticed that the Google page ranking for this page is very low, and you NEED to use SEO correctly OR ELSE blahblahblah.”

Let me be very clear here. I don’t care. I don’t care about search engine optimization. I have categories or tags or whatever they’re called in WordPress for things, but more so I can easily find old posts if I want to go back and read them, not so searching Googleateers can be shunted in. I don’t do this for money or products. To date I have received absolutely NOTHING from anyone that wasn’t bought and paid for with real hard cash. I have rejected offers for advertisements. I don’t want any of that. It isn’t my goal. Let me repeat: I don’t care.

I do this blogging for me. Any reviews I post are as much so I can remember what I like and don’t like as they are so anyone interested can tell what I like and don’t like. You don’t like to read gun reviews on the internet? I don’t care. You disagree with my review of a Heinlein book? I don’t care. Don’t get me wrong, I love to get your comments and such, but if I had exactly zero page views a day, I would still be doing this. My profile over there says that I like “guns, gardening, and random youtube videos.” That’s a little simplified, obviously, but if you don’t like to read about and listen to the sorts of random crap I’m interested, it’s not my problem.

Why is it that everyone assumes that everyone else is doing the blogging thing for the wheelbarrows of cash and product that are obviously being carted around? Why can’t I just do it because I want to? So screw you SEO and people who want me to write gunrag-style reviews to rub the back of a manufacturer so I can get free stuff.

Or Touching Sweaty Armpits. Or Terror-Supported Administrators. Or [fill in the blank]. Really, it’s no secret my views on them–they are probably the same as most of yours. You could go hereherehere or here to read some of my thoughts and observations I’ve said in the past about this “Security” agency staffed entirely by un-American petty jerks and perverts. Yes, you heard me: ENTIRELY. In fact, let me quote something from that last link:

“…I know that you have people working for you, normal people, who aren’t “bad guys,” people who are just doing their job. Unfortunately, these people have come to rely on an institution that stands against everything that makes my country great. These people have become accomplices to your agenda by way of their complacency. They should not stand for your policies any more than I should. As long as they do, I can not feel sorry for them if my words cut.”

Are we clear now, or do I have to use some more words? Well, here’s another little bit of fun information about the PervScanners:

From the charmingly-named blog TSA out of our pants! which is run by a guy who is actually taking a court case against the TSA to the Supreme Court.

So once again I will point out that not only is the TSA a horrible affront to freedom, an epic waste of money, and just plain disturbing most of the time, they are also completely ineffectual. It would be one thing if we had any assurances whatsoever that the “S” actually stood for “Security,” but as it is the TSA is the ultimate culmination of Benjamin Franklin’s “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

And I will also point out that this post fulfills my “FBI Watch List” fulfillment of the day. What a sad state we find our selves in these days.

Added: also, neatly enough, both Weer’d and Borepatch have more TSA stuff up this morning.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve say it a thousand times: I don’t give a rats ass if you want to die screaming in a fire. I DO NOT WANT TO PARTICIPATE WITH YOU. Do it with your own car, your own gas, on your time.